Any business that has two or more shareholders or equity
investors should seriously consider having a shareholder agreement
to protect not only the shareholders, but also the business itself.
Too often, the shareholders of a start-up business are reluctant to
spend the time or money to prepare an agreement that addresses the
major areas of business operations or potential areas of dispute
that may arise in a jointly owned and managed business.
While it is desirable to have an agreement that deals with most
of the ongoing management issues in a business and the areas of
potential disagreements, realistically the cost of preparing such
agreement with successive meetings and drafts is not within the
budget of a start-up business. However something is better than
nothing, and a limited practical approach is to have what I like to
refer to as a "Meanwhile Agreement." This would take the
form of two or three page listing of the most important areas of
agreement between the
